UCLA Health hospitals ranked #1 in both Los Angeles and California and rose to #3 nationally in an annual evaluation published today by U.S. News & World Report - the highest set of rankings UCLA has received in its history.
UCLA Health once again earned a coveted spot on the national honor roll, which names only the 20 hospitals that provide the highest-quality care across a wide range of procedures and conditions.
"Securing a top-three spot in the nation is a record high for UCLA Health and is a testament to the extraordinary skill, commitment and compassion of our physicians, nurses, health care professionals and support staff," said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health and CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. "I'm immensely proud of how our teams work together every day to provide exceptional care with compassion and kindness to improve the lives of patients who come to us from across the region and around the world."
U.S. News evaluated the performance of more than 4,750 medical centers in 15 specialties and for 17 procedures and conditions. The rankings are intended to help patients make informed decisions about where to receive care for life-threatening conditions as well as for more common, non-urgent procedures. For a spot on the honor roll, hospitals must earn high scores across many of these areas of care.
UCLA Health was designated "high performing" in all 17 procedures and conditions, from hip and knee replacement to heart attack and stroke.
UCLA Health earned top 10 rankings in 12 specialties: diabetes and endocrinology (3), gastroenterology/gastrointestinal surgery (4), geriatrics (4), pulmonology and lung surgery (4), ophthalmology (5), orthopaedics (5), psychiatry (5), cancer (8), neurology and neurosurgery (8), urology (8), cardiology and heart surgery (9), and rheumatology (9).
U.S. News methodologies in most areas of care are based largely on objective measures such as risk-adjusted survival and discharge-to-home rates, volume and quality of nursing.
"Hospitals faced incredible challenges this past year, and the best of them have provided great care throughout the pandemic and continue to offer excellent care today," said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News.
UCLA Health comprises four hospitals on two campuses — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and the UCLA Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital on the university's main campus in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center — and more than 200 community clinics throughout Southern California. It also includes the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
